i want parts of this to be canon so MUCH
why random players manage to make an interesting and detailed explanation like this and the devs puts nothing in the game (unless their intention was to left things open for imagination...)

Some fans write the most interesting explanations for the game I swear. This kind of speculation I don't mind. It's the outlandish ones that make me want to facepalm from embarrassment.

[...]

Yeah that's what I thought when I first went through that dungeon. So many intriguing symbolism in there. Such an amazing and unique dungeon if I saw any.

[...]

This just leads me to believe that, on paper, the people over at Square have already worked out and written down the intricate and detailed story parts for the game, but just weren't able to fit it all into the game due to time and space on the disc. So they weren't "winging it" like some people believe.

If you look at the Big Bang artwork, Ardyn's concept art in the FFXV artbook (http://i.imgur.com/1SmssiH.png), Luna and Ravus' art in the same book (http://i.imgur.com/YHFbOkn.png), and just some of the general concept art they had for environments, you could gauge that they had a very rich, detailed, and very involved story for the game.

The most telling one is the Big Bang artwork. You could tell that they had an epic tale with all these summons appearing but had to be cut. Only the first half of that artwork makes sense with what happens in the game.

Next is the Ardyn concept art. I think they already fully wrote out his backstory.

Since the game has performed so well sales wise, I do hope that they would make use of all of these intriguing ideas by continuing to add to this game 2 years post release.

Part of the theory is that Pitioss was designed by a guy who'd worked on Bloodborne, a game that's infamous for relying almost entirely on environmental storytelling to convey its story.

With that said, there are some parts of it that I love, but there are other parts that depend on faulty premises.

Starting with the stuff I like:

The idea of the fantastical protrusions on Ravatough being a wing and Ifrit's horns is kind of brilliant. I'd been convinced that that volcano had to have something to do with Ifrit since it was first shown, and it's completely plausible that Ifrit's original corpse could have been resting on top of there (especially given what happened to the area where Shiva's corpse fell).

The idea of Pitioss representing a journey into the underworld in search of a fallen goddess makes a whole ton of sense, and I intend to keep that in mind when I go through that section myself.

On the other hand, I find the following unconvincing or based on faulty premises:

The idea that Gladio's DLC will take place in the underworld. Given Cor's presence in what we've seen of the DLC, I suspect the nature of that episode will be far less supernatural than that.

The idea that Taelpar Crag was created by Ifrit alone. It's explicitly stated that it's the consequence of the fighting between the Astrals, so it's strange to attribute it to the actions of only one of them.

The idea that the Meteor isn't the source of the Starscourge. Some of the localizations confirm this outright.

The idea that Ifrit managed to escape the underworld with the corpse of Eos. As far as I can tell, there's nothing in the dungeon that really hints at it, and the "Ifrit lit a pyre on Ravatough" scenario could have easily happened before the underworld journey.

The idea that the winged figure in the prophecy artwork is the goddess Eos in the first place. The tutorial room makes it clear that the winged figure represents the Oracle, and I'm not sure there's any particular reason to believe that the statue of the woman in Pitioss is a goddess named Eos.

The idea that the Oracle line could have had divine blood. One of the Cosmogony books explains the source of the Oracle's powers, and it's Bahamut.

The idea that multiple levels of associations (like Marlboro Tentacles -> Marlboro Vines -> Doomtrain summon or Owlyss -> Aegolius -> Aegolius Funereus -> ill-omened funeral) can provide any meaningful insight into the story being told by the dungeon.

And, most importantly, the idea that Ifrit is a misunderstood hero, if only because it flies in the face of literally everything the game does on a surface level. FFXV's Ifrit is as blatant a Satan expy as the FF series has ever had. An argument that effectively amounts to "Satan is actually the good guy" requires a bit more evidence than some meaningful item placement and architecture.

With that said, here's my working theory:

The female figure in Pitioss serves as FFXV's equivalent to Etro. The core concept behind Etro is that she's a goddess who passes into the Unseen Realm after dying and finds that the Unseen Realm is infected with Chaos, which threatens the stability of the universe. Etro then serves as a death goddess, receiving human souls and imbuing them with Chaos before sending them back out in the world in an effort to retain balance. The goal of the other gods in the FNC mythos is to open the gate to the Unseen Realm through the deaths of an enormous amount of humans so Etro can be slain, because she's mistakenly seen as the source of the Chaos that will inevitably destroy the world. It also seems like she was intended to be the source of Noct's powers in Versus XIII, since he could see the light shining from the Unseen Realm as a result of a near-death experience.

If the Ravatough and Pitioss imagery is interpreted in that light, a rather different story emerges. Ifrit doesn't embark on a journey to the underworld to save the female figure from imprisonment. She's already dead, and the pyre on Ravatough is his first attempt to follow after her. It doesn't work, of course, because the Astrals don't go through through the gate when they "die," but it would explain why part of him looks burned. So, he decides to run with the FNC plan and summons a plague-ridden Meteor to kill a bunch of humans to force the gate open (which would explain why his hatred for humans hadn't been a problem beforehand, at least). This gets him into the underworld like he was hoping.

There's no need to alter the descent all that much, at least up to the point where the female statue comes into play. If she's a slightly-revamped Etro, then she wouldn't have been banished for having part-human offspring. She'd be attempting to stave off the darkness around her until being forced to pass that role onto a (human) successor. The Genji Gloves at her navel could still figuratively represent "giving birth," but instead of literal children, she'd "give birth" to a line of human souls intended to fulfill the role she could no longer fulfill -- the line of Lucis (whose divine ability to wield spectral weapons is never fully explained, even though we've been told the origins of the Crystal, the Ring, and the Oracle) -- before fading into the darkness. Cue Ifrit's infection with the Starscourge, cataclysmic fall, and desperate flight from the underworld trailing the scourge behind him.

After that, infected!Ifrit could have the massive fight with the other Astrals that created Taelpar Crag before dying at Shiva's hands.

As for the Crystal, the idea that it was cut from the heart of the female figure is really cool, but it makes more sense that Bahamut (the Astral who actually gave it to humanity) would have done that after Ifrit went AWOL than that Ifrit did it himself but lost it to the other Astrals.

i always thought the statues alluded to the astrals (at least some of them), and the dungeon is clearly from solheim era, which was the time period when gods were awake and living with humans.

in a sense pitioss might've been done in honor to the gods, or maybe used as a sort of special trial/competition like the romans did with the colosseum; i could see many ppl trying that mess and risking their lives for the prize, which basically makes you invincible.

i always thought the statues alluded to the astrals (at least some of them), and the dungeon is clearly from solheim era, which was the time period when gods were awake and living with humans.

in a sense pitioss might've been done in honor to the gods, or maybe used as a sort of special trial/competition like the romans did with the colosseum; i could see many ppl trying that mess and risking their lives for the prize, which basically makes you invincible.

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Having experienced the early sections of Pitioss for myself, I'm far more inclined to see it as being designed using theme park ride style storytelling rather than as an interesting backdrop for a competition. The consistent presence of the demon statue (which is easy to associate with Ifrit) definitely seems to suggest that the dungeon's rooms are set up to represent specific scenes in a story about the demon.

With that said, I'm very curious as to why the Reddit theory linked the bearded statue in the entrance room to Titan rather than Ramuh. Apart from the fact that there's no reason to think Titan would be depicted with a beard, the statue in question has a very Zeus-like look and is posed as if he's throwing a lightning bolt. The destruction of the figure could even explain why Ramuh never appears in corporeal form (i.e. his physical body, like Shiva and Ifrit's, had already been destroyed), with the decapitated head possibly connecting to that weird concept of Ramuh as nothing but a head in the clouds.

EDIT: I also think it's worth considering the color of the switches when thinking about what they could represent. From what I've played, "white switch = external action, orange switch = demon's action" makes a ton of sense, with the puzzles I've completed so far going as follows:

White switch. Lights up at night; provides access to the area through descent by elevator. Possible interpretation: Someone other than the Demon/Ifrit (most likely the Goddess) descends into the Underworld.

White switch on top of the cage. Opens the cage around the Demon. Possible interpretation: the Demon/Ifrit is freed through outside intervention.

White switch that activates orange switch. Combination of the two launches the ball, which comes to rest in front of the demon. Possible interpretation: the Demon/Ifrit notices a passing Meteor, and decides to use it.

Orange switch accessed by jumping from the Demon to the ball. Destroys the Bearded God and opens the way to a second orange switch, which launches another ball to break down the door. Possible interpretation: The Demon/Ifrit uses the Meteor to break down the door to the Underworld. In order to do this, he must destroy the Bearded God/Ramuh's corporeal form.

White switch that makes a giant globe spin, followed by orange switch triggered by jumping from the top of the globe into a narrow passageway behind the ball. Launches the ball so it can be used to proceed further. Possible interpretation: The deaths caused by the Meteor and the plague it spread started the process by which souls were granted entry into the Underworld. The Demon/Ifrit jumped into the opened gate just behind those souls and followed them as they passed into the darkness.

Orange switch in front of the red Demon statue holding the Prawn Antennae. Provides access to the first door in the hallway of doors. Possible interpretation: The Demon/Ifrit fought the gateway guardian and jumped into the chaotic and fiery first level of the Underworld.

Other things to think about: the blue dragonfly-like constructs that appear in the main hall and the globe room (do they represent souls?) and the purple warp effects that occur when Noct is brought back to a checkpoint (summon magic or corrupted Lucian magic?).

I've gotten past the section with the Goddess statue now, so I think my interpretation of the dungeon is nearing completion. I'll go back and consider item placement once I complete the rest of the dungeon, but for now...

I don't think Pitioss is intended to follow an unbroken narrative. It's more like stained glass windows or the Stations of the Cross -- its rooms are designed to convey specific scenes, with the elements included in those scenes being conveyed through the juxtaposition of disparate elements. As such, my suspicion is that, in-universe, Pitioss was intended to function as a temple.

With that in mind, I'll break down the narrative as I understand it on a scene-by-scene basis. (This will include some references to puzzle solutions, in case anyone wants to avoid those.)

Introduction:

In order to access the Entry Hall, you must run underneath spiked blocks. Given the way they're used throughout the dungeon, I believe that the use of spikes in Pitioss represents the presence of death/the dead. Before even accessing the Entry Hall, you must enter the realm of the dead.

Ifrit makes a pyre on Ravatough to burn the body of the fallen Goddess and burns alongside her.

Scene I -- Entry Hall (Demon Caged) and Purgatory

The initial setup of the Entry Hall is as such: The Demon is surrounded by a cage. The Bearded God holds a platform like a lightning bolt. The path is barred by moving walls and a demon face barrier.

Once you make your way past these obstacles, your find yourself in a room with three closed doors, which I will henceforth call Purgatory. One of the doors can be opened already, but it leads nowhere. There is a path filled with spiked blocks that you can use to reach the top of the Demon's cage and hit a white switch to free him.

I believe that the caged Demon represents Ifrit after "dying," the Bearded God represents Ramuh, the moving walls represent chaos (in a FNC sense), and the Purgatory room represents the place where immortal beings who "died" appear before being called back to the Mortal Realm.

In death, Ifrit attempts to access the Underworld, but finds the way barred and returns to life.

Scene II -- Entry Hall (Demon Uncaged)

Now that the cage around the Demon has been lifted, a giant ball can be triggered (using a combination of white and orange switches) to launch. It comes to rest in front of the Demon. You must jump from the Demon's head to this ball to trigger the destruction of the Bearded God using an orange switch, which provides access to another orange switch that summons a giant ball to break down the door into the next area.

I believe that the giant ball is a reference to the Meteor containing the Starscourge that Ifrit used to destroy the civilization of Solheim.

Having returned to life, Ifrit notices a Meteor and decides to use it to open the way to the Underworld by devastating the human population with the Starscourge. Ramuh tries to prevent Ifrit from doing this, but his corporeal form is destroyed. Ifrit successfully summons the Meteor and opens a path to the Underworld.

Scene III -- The Hidden Gate

In the next area, you must jump into a massive stationary globe and past spikes to hit a white switch to make the globe spin, then make your way on top of the globe to jump down into a narrow opening surrounded by spikes to land behind a giant ball to launch it in order to progress. From the top of the globe, you can see another Demon statue, which is gazing at the distant Goddess statue.

I believe that moving equipment without spikes represents chaos and the narrow opening containing the orange switch represents the Hidden Gate to the Underworld. As before, the giant ball represents the Meteor.

Ifrit navigates the chaos surrounding the Hidden Gate and leaps through, in hopes of reaching the Goddess. He is surrounded by the dead on all sides but is able to find his way through by following in the wake of the souls lost to his Meteor.

Scene IV -- The River of Souls

This area contains a statue of a Demon lit in red and five doors, four of which I believe are intended to comprise a single scene. The Demon holds a Prawn Antennae in his hand. The first door contains a number of spiked blocks that move up and down and must be escaped by jumping from above the door after hitting an orange switch to open the next door. The second and third doors function as a set. The second door contains a number of spinning spiked pillars that must be avoided and then jumped on to reach a higher level, which provides access to the area behind the third door without opening it; the third door contains a number of non-spiked wheel mechanisms that must be navigated to reach the orange switch and blast open the door to both free yourself and access the fourth door. The fourth door requires you to stand on platforms moving through the room while avoiding spiked walls.

I believe that the Demon statue and the first four doors are intended to reflect a dangerous aquatic journey into the depths of the Underworld. The first room reflects the feeling of being pushed up and pulled down by a current of the dead before finally surfacing, the second room reflects being spun around in a whirlpool of souls, the third reflects being caught in chaotic tides, and the fourth reflects avoiding the dead while being carried along on a current. The Prawn Antennae continues the aquatic symbolism.

Now in the Underworld proper, Ifrit is caught in the River of Souls and must fight to keep from being dragged under while surrounded by chaos and the souls of the dead.

Scene V -- Soul Harvest

This area contains a massive piece of machinery consisting of an enormous skull and rows of rotating spikes (which I will henceforth call the Skull Wall). It's sort of reminiscent of a massive piece of agricultural equipment, and the skull evokes the concept of the Grim Reaper. You must navigate this piece of equipment in order to reach the orange switch that will open the door and provide access to the wheel mechanism behind it. At one point, you see a hand sticking out of the wall menacingly.

I believe the Skull Wall represents whatever beings harvest souls in Eos and the hand represents the desperation of those who are subject to the harvest.

Ifrit makes his way through an area where the souls of the dead are harvested, avoiding the harvesters while using their infrastructure to reach the chaos beyond.

Scene VI -- Goddess in Chaos

There's a symbolic (if not quite literal) point of no return once you enter this area, and a striking shift in the way the world works. Prior to this section, all of the platforming relied on the same physics engine as the game proper and the camera could be manipulated at will. Here, in contrast, gravity shifts depending on where you stand on a platform, the camera switches to 45-degree angles, some sections must be played as a 2.5D platformer, and large portions of the level geometry spin as you move through it. Notably, while machinery is common, there are no spikes to be found anywhere.

The point of this section is to work your way towards the statue of the Goddess, who is shrouded in darkness. Once you reach her, you must jump on her chest, which pushes her back into a prone position and allows you to reach both the Genji Gloves at her navel and the rod above her head leading you to the next area.

I believe that this section couldn't have been a more blatant Fabula Nova Crystallis reference if it wrote them in red paint on the body of the Goddess statue. In FNC, when Etro reaches the Underworld, she finds Muin being consumed by chaos. FFXIII-2 continues this imagery by having Lightning appear before Etro just as Etro's about to be consumed by chaos herself. The Genji Gloves at the Goddess statue's navel is subject to further interpretation, but I think it could reflect the Goddess passing the Power of Kings (which lacks specific attribution in supplemental materials and could be referenced by the Goddess statue holding a sword) to mankind through Ardyn, since the character for whom the Tale of Genji was named was born to royalty but cut out of the royal line.

Ifrit navigates the chaos at the heart of the Underworld, but as soon as he approaches the Goddess, she is consumed by chaos and he falls into despair.

Scene VII -- Escape from the Underworld

The chaotic architecture of the last section continues, but now it's streaked with black markings reminiscent of the black blood associated with people infected with the Starscourge. There's an obvious path to take, but all of the jumps you need to take feel really risky since there's almost nothing below you but darkness. At one point, there's a Demon statue, but his features are shriveled. Most of the items you find are connected with either healing or time. Eventually, you find a staircase to ascend which leads you to a short drop to a white switch; the switch opens the door and leads out to Purgatory.

I believe that the black markings and the shriveled Demon statue reflect infection by the Starscourge, while the path you must take and the items found on it reflect a panicked escape.

Coming into contact with the chaos around the Goddess infected Ifrit with the Starscourge. In a panic, he attempts to flee the Underworld, trailing the infection behind him.

...and that's as far as I've gotten. Judging by the Reddit post that kicked off this thread, there's probably only one more scene for me to add after completing the remainder of the dungeon, which I doubt will change my feelings about the interpretation I've come up with so far.

I just finished reading the updated version (posted 16 days ago) of the Pitioss theory on Reddit.

I skimmed it briefly last time where I only understood Ifrit saving Eos on a surface level, but just finished reading the entire thing in depth and...

Holy fucking shit that was an amazing read and epic story!

It makes so much sense and.. I wouldn't be surprised if this turned out mostly accurate (or at least I'm hopefully so lol)

Some of the comments in the Reddit post said that in an ATR done by Tabata awhile back, he likened the lore for FFXV to be similar to a Japanese tragedy, which is similar to the theory presented by Perona.

Yknow... this just makes me more excited to play Episode Gladio. Before I didn't really care all that much for it. If that DLC covers this mythos and manages to confirm some of this theory, I think theorists would be going crazy over this.

Edit: when I skimmed this theory awhile back, I had a very general gist of what it was about. I seriously wish I read it more carefully back then but oh well.

My only thought about it is this: SE already finished writing the lore, they've finished writing Ardyn's story as well, they've most likely finished the entire scenario regarding Niflheim.

How are they going to tell this entire story in a way that does it justice? We're gonna have to wait until episode Gladio comes out to see what the DLC experience will be like, but I wonder will DLC episodes be enough to convey the true depth of this amazing story?

Also Ray Chase playing FFXV and keeping up to date on any theories and whatnot regarding the game is pretty damn cool of him. He truly is a FF fan xD

Y'know... this just makes me more excited to play Episode Gladio. Before I didn't really care all that much for it. If that DLC covers this mythos and manages to confirm some of this theory, I think theorists would be going crazy over this.

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How are they going to tell this entire story in a way that does it justice? We're gonna have to wait until episode Gladio comes out to see what the DLC experience will be like, but I wonder will DLC episodes be enough to convey the true depth of this amazing story?

If anyone's still interested in this, my final analysis of Pitioss can be found here:

It's... very different than what I thought it was going to be when I last posted here. XD

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I like this version. The one-winged "goddess" figure was never adequately explained. I still don't think the Oracle could purely fill that role, and in pre-release material the Astrals weren't specifically called gods.

Oh yes, a little added detail. "Shigai" also the term used for "Cie'th" in the Japanese versions of the other FNC titles.

my take is that is something as simple as envy or dissaproval of the way humans are (maybe he was the least adored deity of the hexatheon); or he simply wanted to be the only ruler, the only god.

might be the people of solheim tricked him and tried to steal something from him, and he got pissed (they tried to kill him to get unlimited fire, who knows lol).

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If you want a reason for Ifrit to attack, maybe humans were getting too socially, magically or technologically advanced for the Astrals to control. I can just hear several Astrals thinking these "puny, insignificant things" don't have the right to be like this, them being nothing compared to divine beings. Maybe Ifrit suggested wiping them out (with the Starscourge, one assumes), but was outvoted by the rest of the Six in favor of something less drastic and more manipulative. If Ifrit acted against a common consensus, that would be reason for the other Astrals to attack, if only to save their own control and later paint Ifrit as a betrayer.

But back to Pitioss, if Ifrit were using a human as a host to bring the Starscourge against the wishes of the Six, that would be in keeping with @Ikkin's theory, and even explain why Ramuh would try to stop Ifrit. As to the Goddess figure, she would be the one to bless this human and/or their lineage with the ability to stop Ifrit's scheme from destroying humanity.